I wonder…(3:00pm EST Mon Nov 17 2003)how this will affect CPU prices? It would be nice to upgrade to a blazing fast processor for a couple hundred for motherboard and CPU- still on a 1.1GHz here. Or, it could go the other way to allow them to pay for the fab. Hmm. - by QM

Congrats to AMD(3:22pm EST Mon Nov 17 2003)Congrats to AMD for these good news. Keep up the good work AMD. I hope AMD will be the first one to sell a “viable” 128-bit CPU. :) - by AMD Fan

Sun – is where we somewhat disagree(3:24pm EST Mon Nov 17 2003)For Sun to have an x86/64 line of computers is an interesting thing: it allows them to compete readily and handily with the Linux/Whitebox bunch – provided they're going to ship their version of Linux (Solaris is just too different to 'fit right in'). But by doing this, it isn't at all clear that they're going to pave a way to sell the same market their 2nd, 5th, and 77th new Linux/Unix computer: SPARC's are not binary compatible with x86 (in fact the fit is pretty bad overall, with BigEndian and LittleEndian issues not at the least of the situation.)

If Sun were to really REALLY embrace Oppie for what it is (offering the potential of up to 100's of CPUs in a box, given custom proprietary 'hyperchannel' extension circuitry), then they could slowly relieve themselves of their slow-to-evolve SPARC legacy. “Kind of”, since if they ever hinted of that – their whole empire would react as if hit by a Richter 8.0 earthquake.

Delicate balance to achieve here. Very delicate. And x86/Oppie does not make a very good catapult to upsell the SPARC line. Sun has bought into massive-parallelism-of-'OK'-CPUs in a big way. Intel, AMD are going to the other extreme: integrate moe/fasta into a single chip, and hook “a few of them” together into powerhouse enterprise-class designs.

- by GoatGuy

Timing is good for AMD(3:52pm EST Mon Nov 17 2003)First Point: With corporations being on the cheap for the last three years, the next major upgrade cycle is just around the corner. This means big increases of server sales for Sun, very good timing for AMD to be involved in that!

Second Point: Sun really hates Intel, it must really irk them to sell systems with the Xeon processors, but they have done it out of nessecity. It's unlikely that AMD could supply the volume required by Sun to supplant the Xeon supply, but you just know Sun would like that. I don't think that Sun will try to compete in any way with it's Sparc based systems, at least no more than it currently does with the Xeon.

Third Point: GoatGuy has been pretty quiet around here lately (so have a lot of good posters for reasons that really bug me) so this must be a pretty big event to get something out of him. - by embedded_bill

Sun sees the light(4:01pm EST Mon Nov 17 2003)It's about time Sun started shifting from their dead end business model of selling a proprietary OS on slow, proprietary hardware.Opteron scales exceptionally with speed increases and additional processors. Not only can Opteron compete with Xeons, but it also gives the Itanic a good run for its money too! The “little processor that could” should help put Sun back into the black on their bottom line.- by cybersaur

I like SUN but not if they run AMD:-((4:53pm EST Mon Nov 17 2003):-( I like the old SPARC CPUs!So no more cheap SUN for me:-(

sob sob sniff:-( - by Was SUN fan

massively parallel Opterons(5:02pm EST Mon Nov 17 2003)already offered by Cray running SuSe on your choice of 64 to 20,000 Opterons tightly coupled. Cray is the new commodity mainframe company. Sun must get on board before the train leaves the station. Hewlett Packard is flogging the Itanium kludge, but engineer customers know better. - by HyperTransport

holy slippery balls!(7:03pm EST Mon Nov 17 2003)i was on a freiend fx-51 system and god dam, AMD, you really kicked the horse, that thing decimates the competition for gaming. i've always loved AMD since i got my 350 AMD a 2 years ago…OCed to 550 now…..stable as a bitch. GO AMD!!

WoOt *Hawiia* - by K-6 User

History Lesson(8:42pm EST Mon Nov 17 2003)Just like to point out…Remember when a dozen months ago people were yelling 'Death To AMD', 'AMD is Dead' 'AMD will die soon' etc…

Just a pleasant wink to those that were writing eloquantly, with studies or not, these kind of slogan towards AMD…

ps Mouhahaha - by DA

Sucking jobs out of America(9:36pm EST Mon Nov 17 2003)It's a one-two punch: AMD builds out in Dresden, instead of New York, and Opteron starts to supplant Sparc at Sun. TI makes SPARCs in Dallas, presently, but if this keeps up they can kiss that business goodbye.

What does it take for someone to build a fab in the USA? Why did Dresden win out over New York? This reeks of politics. They didn't go there for the cheap workforce. What backroom deal was cut? - by BEN

Uhhhhhhhh…(10:37pm EST Mon Nov 17 2003)I hope AMD doesn't put too many eggs in one basket by building another fab in the same city.

Let's suppose a natural disaster like say, a flood or a widespread power outage occurs at Dresden. AMD is doomed for the time being.

Clearly the path of least resistance for AMD to build another fab there, but probably not the best path. - by Affez Pow

BEN(10:43pm EST Mon Nov 17 2003)Better Germany than India or Mexico. Dresden was pounded to dust during WW2 (for no real strategic reason), then they suffered Soviet occupation. I'm not making excuses for Nazis, actually I can't stand them. What I am saying is that I've been to East Germany and it ain't very pretty. These people can use the work, and they will do the work excellently. Furthermore, they will make technological advancements and reinvest. I'm not complaining, if we had better leadrership we wouldn't be having the economic problems we have right now but the Germans are not to blame for the US's situation. We are and our stupid greedy, shortsighted ideology.- by SFX

Bye the bye, I have relitives in the “old coundtry”… jobs there mean maybe the next time somebody has a “great business” idea, or some distant Aunt-in-law twice removed croaks we won't have to put money in the “family kitty”. You BET it will keep money in the States. - by gG

………..(12:37am EST Tue Nov 18 2003)Well considering if AMD failes with 64-bit chip they will bankrupt so lets hope to god they can do something with it. Otherwise no Comp for intel and they can rape us in price terms. - by ……………….

mission critical(12:50am EST Tue Nov 18 2003)that's what is Solaris. Sun is going to attract with opteron/Solaris a massive bunch of tru64/alpha users left in the dust by HPQ and its foolishness to support Itanic. - by psy